A drugstore within – Mesenchymal stem cells protect and heal

Mesenchymal stem cell

A drugstore within –Mesenchymal stem cells protect and heal

From the 7 July 2011 Eureka news alert

 

A stem cell that can morph into a number of different tissues is proving a natural protector, healer and antibiotic maker, researchers at Case Western Reserve University and their peers have found.

Mesenchymal stem cells reaped from bone marrow had been hailed as the key to growing new organs to replace those damaged or destroyed by violence or disease, but have failed to live up to the billing.

Instead, scientists who’d been trying to manipulate the cells to build replacement parts have been finding the cells are innately potent antidotes to a growing list of maladies.

The findings are summarized in the July 8 issue of Cell Stem Cell.

The cell, referred to as an MSC, “is a drugstore that functions at the local site of injury to provide all the medicine that site requires for its successful regeneration,” said Arnold Caplan, professor of biology at Case Western Reserve, and lead author of the paper.

Here’s how: (click here for rest of article)

How Common Immune Booster Works: Research May Lead to New and Improved Vaccines

How Common Immune Booster Works: Research May Lead to New and Improved Vaccines

From the March 14 2011 Science Daily news item

ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2011) — Alum is an adjuvant (immune booster) used in many common vaccines, and Canadian researchers have now discovered how it works. The research by scientists from the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine is published in the March 13 online edition of Nature Medicine. The new findings will help the medical community produce more effective vaccines and may open the doors for creating new vaccines for diseases such as HIV or tuberculosis…

…Alum is a common grocery store staple used in pickling. It is very effective in inducing antibody responses and is the only human vaccine adjuvant approved for large-scale immunization. It has been in use for 90 years and appears in almost all vaccines we receive as without an adjuvant vaccines in general do not work.

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Related Articles

• Progress to vaccines against the Plague, bacterial pneumonias, Malaria and TB (nextbigfuture.com)
• Synthetic Vaccine May Fight Malaria, HIV (livescience.com)
• Combatting Anti-Microbial Resistance Needs New Efforts, IFPMA Supports WHO World Health Day(medicalnewstoday.com, April 6, 2011)

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) today gives its support to the 2011 WHO World Health Day, which this year takes as its theme Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) and raises awareness of the problem of antibiotics losing their effectiveness over time as bacteria naturally evolve and mutate to become resistant to drug treatments…

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WHO has today called on governments and stakeholders to implement the policies and practices needed to prevent and counter the emergence of highly resistant infections, and also to provide appropriate care to those seriously affected by these microbes. The R&D-based pharmaceutical industry echoes that call and commits to play its part in addressing the challenge of AMR. Specifically, the IFPMA and its member companies and associations pledge the following:

1. Continue our investment in R&D programs dedicated to the development of new antibacterial agents.
2. Work in partnership towards a responsible global approach with UN Agencies (principally WHO), national governments, healthcare providers, NGOs and other stakeholders in the areas of education, prevention, innovation, access, financing and capacity-building initiatives.
3. Support the WHO’s work to advise on the appropriate use of these vital medicines.